JPH0916340A - Magnetic disk unit exchange system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To avoid a magnetic disk storage device fault by previously setting the number of times of retry of write/read operation as a fault symptom and automatically copying a file into a standby unit. CONSTITUTION: This system is provided with an active magnetic disk storage device 5 and a standby magnetic disk storage device 6 for the device 5. Then, a fault monitor process 3 detects the fault symptom based on the number of times of retry at the time of write/read to the active magnetic disk unit and while referring to a fault managing table 7, fault information is generated and sent to a managing process 2. The managing process 2 controls the exchange between active magnetic disk units 51-5n and a standby magnetic disk unit 61 and reports the fault message of the active magnetic disk units 51-5n to a terminal. A recovery process 4 refers to a recovery managing table 7 base on the fault information, moves the files of the active magnetic disk units 51-5n to the standby magnetic disk unit 61, recovers those files and performs the preventive exchange of the active magnetic units 51-5n.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a magnetic disk unit replacement system for replacing a failed magnetic disk unit of a magnetic disk storage device with a spare magnetic disk unit, and more particularly to a magnetic disk unit replacement system which detects a failure sign and replaces the unit. Regarding

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, for a magnetic disk unit of a magnetic disk storage device, it is determined whether or not to replace the disk unit based on an error log at the time of writing / reading operation or an inspection result by a monitoring tool. Preventive maintenance is performed.

According to Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 4-205619,
Information for allocating and managing multiple magnetic disk units to the master disk and spare disk, a means for copying the files of the master disk unit to the spare disk and replacing the files, and switching the master disk unit to the spare disk unit when copying is completed A method for performing preventive maintenance of a spare disk unit is disclosed. According to this publication, the trigger for copying for the above-mentioned preventive maintenance is given by a patrol function or a reformatting function. However, the inspection result judgment by the patrol function and the copying by reformatting are both performed by manual intervention.

[0004]

The failure sign is determined from the number of retries of the write / read operation for the magnetic disk unit according to the preset number of times condition, and the operation magnetic disk unit and the spare magnetic disk unit are automatically replaced. To do it.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to compare the number of write / read operations of a magnetic disk unit with a preset number of times to determine a failure sign and preventively replace it. .

Therefore, a failure sign is detected by providing an operating magnetic disk storage device including a plurality of operating magnetic disk units of the present invention and a backup magnetic disk storage device including a backup magnetic disk unit that replaces the operating magnetic disk unit. A magnetic disk unit exchange system in which a file of an operating magnetic disk unit is transferred to a spare magnetic disk unit to be restored and the operating magnetic disk unit is replaced by the spare magnetic disk unit is a replacement of the operating magnetic disk unit and the spare magnetic disk unit. Control process to notify the terminal of the failure message of the operating magnetic disk unit and the failure sign is detected based on the number of retries when writing / reading to the operating magnetic disk unit, and the failure information is referenced by referring to the failure management table. Generate a Based on the failure monitoring process sent to the management process, and the failure information received from the management process, the recovery processing management table is referenced, and the file of the operating magnetic disk unit is transferred to the spare magnetic disk unit for recovery, A recovery process for preventive replacement of the spare magnetic disk unit with an operational magnetic disk unit.

[0007]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

Referring to FIG. 1 showing a functional block of an embodiment of the present invention, a magnetic disk unit exchange system 1 has a monitoring process 2 for controlling and managing the system 1 itself.
And the magnetic disk unit 5 of the magnetic disk storage device 5.
A process 3 for monitoring failure signs of 1 to 5n and a file of an operation unit in which a failure sign of the operating unit 51 to 5n of the magnetic disk storage device 5 is detected is copied to a spare unit 61 of the magnetic disk storage device 6. A recovery process 4, a failure management table 7 for setting the number of retries for judging a failure sign of a write / read operation for the units 51 to 5n, and a recovery processing management table 8 for managing the correspondence of the unit 61 to the units 51 to 5n.
And

Referring to FIG. 2 showing items in the failure management table 7, a unit name 71, retry information 72 logged at the time of writing / reading operation, a recovery condition 73 which is a reference number of retries for judging a failure sign, including.

FIG. 8 showing the items of the recovery processing management table 8
2, a unit name 81, a recovery unit name 82 indicating a corresponding spare unit, and a processing method 83 indicating whether or not to send a message to the terminal 9 are included.

Explaining the operation of this embodiment, the failure management process 3 monitors the operating status of the units 51 to 5n, records the number of retries in the retry information 72, and compares it with the recovery condition 73 to detect a failure sign. Determine whether to make a decision. The failure management process 3 notifies the management process 2 of the unit for which the failure sign has been determined. The management process 2 that received the notification outputs the notification to the terminal 9 and also notifies the recovery process 4. Upon receiving the notification, the restoration process 4 refers to the failure management table 7, confirms the unit to be restored, and refers to the restoration processing management table 8 to refer to the spare unit name 82 corresponding to the unit name 81 and the processing method 83. To get

The processing method 83 is designated by the following three cases: a case where all restoration processing is automatically executed, a case where a confirmation request is made to the operator as to whether or not restoration is carried out, and a case where only message notification is given.
You can choose one pattern. The restoration process of copying from the operation unit to the spare unit is performed by the restoration process 4.
Based on the recovery unit name 82 acquired from the tables 7 and 8, the file of the unit 51 in which the failure sign is detected is copied to the spare unit 61. The recovery process 4 notifies the management process 2 of the completion of the recovery process, and the management process 2 outputs a message of unit replacement completion to the terminal 9.

[0013]

As described above, according to the present invention, the number of retries of the write / read operation is used as a failure sign and compared with a preset condition, and the system automatically copies the file to the spare unit. By replacing the unit, the failure of the magnetic disk storage device can be avoided.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing items of a failure management table in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing items of a recovery processing management table in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Magnetic Disk Unit Replacement System 2 Management Process 3 Failure Monitoring Process 4 Recovery Process 5 Magnetic Disk Storage Device 6 Magnetic Disk Storage Device 7 Failure Management Table 8 Recovery Processing Management Table 9 Terminals 51 to 5n Units 61 Units

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An operational magnetic disk that detects a failure sign, comprising an operational magnetic disk storage device comprising a plurality of operational magnetic disk units and a spare magnetic disk storage device comprising a spare magnetic disk unit replacing the operational magnetic disk unit. A magnetic disk unit replacement system that transfers a file of a unit to a spare magnetic disk unit to restore it and replaces the working magnetic disk unit with the spare magnetic disk unit controls the replacement of the working magnetic disk unit and the spare magnetic disk unit. Detects a failure sign based on the management process that notifies the terminal of a failure message of the operating magnetic disk unit and the number of retries when writing / reading to the operating magnetic disk unit, and creates failure information by referring to the failure management table. The management process To the recovery processing management table based on the failure monitoring process sent to the server and the failure information received from the management process, the file of the operating magnetic disk unit is transferred to the spare magnetic disk unit for recovery, and the spare magnetic disk unit is recovered. A magnetic disk unit replacement system, comprising: a recovery process for preventive replacement of an operating magnetic disk unit.